Pair Found Sleeping In Car In Petaluma, Arrested: Police

PETALUMA, CA — Two people spotted sleeping in a car by a Petaluma police officer early Sunday morning were arrested on suspicion of weapons and drug crimes, police said. A Petaluma police officer was on routine patrol at about 9 a.m. Sunday when he saw a car at the East Washington Place shopping center on Kenilworth Drive in which a man and a woman were sleeping. The officer woke the two people up and asked them to get out of the car, police said.

Found in the car were drug paraphernalia, a shotgun reported stolen from Humboldt County, a loaded pistol, metal knuckles, a collapsible baton and suspected methamphetamine.

Record checks revealed that the woman, Rebecca Rodriguez, 21, of Rohnert Park, had a felony arrest warrant., The man, 37-year-old Martin Stra-Smith of Rohnert Park, had recently been released on bail stemming from a firearm charge, police said.

Rodriguez was arrested for her warrant, and on suspicion of possession of metal knuckles and the baton. Stra-Smith was arrested on suspicion of committing a felony while on bail, suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm in a public place, suspicion of being a prohibited person in
possession of a firearm, suspicion of possessing narcotics while armed and suspicion of possession of narcotics and paraphernalia. Both were booked into the Sonoma County Jail.

By Bay City News Service

Photos courtesy Petaluma Police Department